


unannounced

by mysterywoozi (writers_haven)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, as in, it's set in idolverse BUT in the future, like 2025 or sth, so not that far into the future lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22481476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writers_haven/pseuds/mysterywoozi
Summary: Jihoon is 29 when he comes out.It is both his choice and not. Somehow, the tabloids get their hands on photographs of him kissing his boyfriend; Jihoon decides he doesn’t want to lie.“Are you sure?” his Vice President asks, worried. He’s always come across as a little aloof, but he really does care about them. “There’s no turning back from this.”Jihoon takes a deep breath. To be honest, he doesn’t know if this is the right thing to do. All he knows is that he’s been afraid of this exact situation for the past five years, and he’s tired of living in fear.“I’m sure,” says Jihoon, and feels at peace.
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 14
Kudos: 228





	unannounced

Jihoon is 29 when he comes out.

It is both his choice and not. Somehow, the tabloids get their hands on photographs of him kissing his boyfriend; Jihoon decides he doesn’t want to lie.

“Are you sure?” his Vice President asks, worried. He’s always come across as a little aloof, but he really does care about them. “There’s no turning back from this.”

Jihoon takes a deep breath. To be honest, he doesn’t know if this is the right thing to do. All he knows is that he’s been afraid of this exact situation for the past five years, and he’s tired of living in fear.

“I’m sure,” says Jihoon, and feels at peace.

\---

Soonyoung’s hand clutches tight around his.

“You don’t have to do this,” Jihoon whispers, smoothing his thumb over Soonyoung’s. “The pictures never got your face.”

Soonyoung brings their joined hands up to his face, drops a soft kiss to Jihoon’s fingers. “I’m not gonna let you go through this alone, idiot,” he says, words rough but tone impossibly tender. “We’re in this together. Okay?”

Jihoon smiles, tucks his head in the crook of Soonyoung’s neck. “Okay.”

\---

Jihoon and Soonyoung sit down with Pledis staff to discuss their course of action. As much as some people at their agency want to support them, South Korea is a conservative country, and Pledis has artists to protect. Neither Jihoon nor Soonyoung fault them for their caution, especially with the new boy group on the verge of debut; they remember being trainees, praying and dreaming for a successful debut, and they would hate to paint a target on the new kids’ backs.

As it happens, both their contracts are due to expire in about a month’s time, so this is what happens: Pledis releases a statement that Jihoon’s private life is his own business, and that he and Soonyoung have declined to renew their contracts. Both Jihoon and Soonyoung post on various SNS that it’s ‘time for a change’, and lie low for the next month while fans and foes alike spread rumours like wildfire. Jihoon has to add that the break is amicable, for fear that well-meaning fans begin attacking Pledis.

One month later, on Jihoon’s last day, they release a song, a song about _thank you_ and _goodbye_ and _see you on the other side_.

Three days after that, on Soonyoung’s last day, they release a video of Soonyoung dancing to that song, in the tiny practice room they first filmed Adore U in, all those years ago.

The very next day, they simultaneously post a photo of their fingers laced together to their Instagrams. Jihoon captions it with a simple ‘ _to the future_ ’; Soonyoung goes for a heart emoji.

They get a lot of hate, but they get some support, too.

\---

Seungcheol and Junhui are the next to leave Pledis.

“You knew we were all coming,” is all Seungcheol has to say, grinning, when he sees their shocked faces. “It’s just a matter of time.”

“But hyung,” Jihoon stammers, speechless. Seventeen are family, of course they are, but he hadn’t expected them to throw away their careers like this. “Why– you shouldn’t have–”

Junhui squishes him into a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t worry, Jihoonie,” he says, beaming. “We’ve been getting ready for this every since you guys got together.”

“Getting ready for what?”

Seungcheol’s grin widens. “You know how I’ve always wanted to be a CEO?”

\---

Ten years as a popular idol has made Jihoon a lot of money. Up until now he’s been sort of lost as to what to do with it all, but right now he’s never been happier that his mom nagged him into putting some of it into fixed deposits.

Jihoon’s wealth is due in large part to royalties, but the others have nothing to sneeze at either. Between all thirteen of them, they seriously have enough savings to start their own company.

“Just to manage us, for now,” Seungcheol says, taking charge. He’s always been the closest to management, particularly their Vice President. Well, _ex_ -Vice President. “We might have to all start living together in a dorm again, but we can make it.”

Jihoon hums, thinking. The music and the choreography is obviously not a problem. What he’s more concerned about is advertising, shooting videos, designing and making albums– all the stuff he’s never had to deal with before.

“Maybe we can do digital sales for now,” Soonyoung suggests, clearly worried about the same thing. “At least until the group is all back together. We can’t go silent, we’ll need to keep the hype up to make sure people know we’re still here.”

“It’s going to take at least another year and a half before everyone is out, though,” Seungcheol says. “That means, what, two mini-albums? Three? Jihoon, you had to leave a lot of the half-finished stuff with Pledis, right?”

Jihoon nods. It had been a part of his contract, and anyway Bumzu promised that he’d still be credited if they ended up using them. “I can write new ones, that’s not a problem.”

“It’s a lot of work, though, and we’d have to rent a recording studio for a pretty long time,” Seungcheol points out, biting his lip. “That’s going to cost a lot of money. We don’t know how the public will react, either, if they’ll shun us or not.”

Jihoon’s heart aches, that Seungcheol and Junhui are abandoning a stable, lucrative career for Jihoon and Soonyoung, but they’ve scolded him for feeling bad about it enough times that Jihoon keeps his mouth shut. Soonyoung, of course, picks up on his mood and squeezes his knee comfortingly.

“What about singles?” Junhui suggests. “We can keep releasing singles as more of us join, then compile them into an album later on.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Jihoon muses. “We might not be able to perform on music shows right now, but there’s always YouTube.”

They discuss business until night turns into dawn. Seungcheol and Junhui have to head back to the Seventeen dorms– they haven’t officially left Pledis yet, they just came by for a chat. They leave with warm hugs and words of encouragement and promises to send their love to the other members.

Everything still seems surreal when the door shuts behind them. “We’re really doing this,” Jihoon says, dazed. He’d sort of assumed they’d just– disappear from the entertainment scene. Maybe move to the countryside, start that farm Soonyoung always talked about.

Soonyoung grins, comes close, drops a kiss on his cheek. “Of course we are,” he whispers. “You and I can’t live without music, after all.”

\---

Jihoon and Soonyoung churn out single after single; they record in Jihoon’s bare bones home studio, they film simple choreography music videos using their phones.

It kind of reminds Jihoon of when they first debuted. None of the fancy whistles and bells they’ve now gotten used to. Hell, they didn’t even have in-ears back then. It was just them, their dreams, and the music.

Over the years, they’ve come to appreciate the value of a concept-driven comeback, or how simply changing your hair colour can generate buzz for days. They’ve learnt how a well-made MV can garner attention well above and beyond what would have been given to a song on its own. They know how to be performers, entertainers.

It’s nice to be able to go back to being just _musicians_.

“It’s not quite the farm,” Soonyoung jokes, when they’re taking a break from dance practice to sprawl uncomfortably against each other and drip sweat on their living room floor, “but it’s back to basics all the same.”

\---

One by one, the members refuse to renew their contracts. They don’t rush into promotions; instead, their focus is on building their company. They make a careful few hires; stylists, managers, a small marketing team. They do whatever they can on their own. Wonwoo directs their MVs. Minghao designs the album cover. Seungkwan shamelessly sucks up to all the producers he knows and manages to get them booked for a tiny handful of variety shows. Their faithful Carats support them tirelessly, even though by now most of them are adults with families and careers of their own.

They don’t go by Seventeen anymore, but they’re still growing quietly.

\---

They don’t break any records, but they don’t go hungry either.

South Korea as a whole is conservative, even though younger generations are becoming more and more liberal. Without mainstream support, they make only a fraction of the sales they used to. Without music shows, they struggle to gain visibility. Without an established company, they have so little negotiation power.

And yet, somehow, by relentless work and no small amount of willpower, they survive.

Jihoon has never felt so free.

\---

It’s the better part of a decade before they get back onto a music show.

At first, the members are torn about whether they should do it. The studio had dropped them without a moment’s hesitation the moment Jihoon and Soonyoung came out, and now they were treating them as if nothing had ever happened. “It’s absolutely disgusting,” Seungkwan is saying, outraged. “Just because we’re doing well now–”

“But isn’t it good that they want us back at all?” Chan puts in. “Five years ago, we could have been the richest group in the world and they still wouldn’t have invited us.”

“It’s still an insult! At least _apologise_ –”

“Jihoon, Soonyoung,” Seungcheol interrupts, looking towards them. “What do you think?”

Jihoon shrugs. He isn’t angry anymore, most of the time. People are cruel. He understands this, has cried and screamed and begged over this, and he has made his peace with it. What’s important now is: what is best for the group?

“We should do it,” Jihoon says.

“I agree,” Soonyoung says, and that closes the matter.

\---

Just as Jihoon intended, their sales shoot up a few months after they start doing music shows again. Even though they’d been doing well enough with their YouTube channel, there is nothing quite like a music show for easy access to a massive section of the general public. The best thing, however, is that the group retains their freedom– they are no longer afraid of being banned, because they know they can survive either way. They are bold, brave. Fearless.

Jihoon holds Soonyoung’s hand in waiting rooms, hallways, onstage during 1st place announcements. He knows everyone can see them. He doesn’t care.

\---

Jihoon is 35 when he is approached by a rookie, backstage before a show.

“S-Sunbaenim!” the boy shouts, bright-eyed and nervous. He is long and lanky, with limbs too long for his body. He can’t be more than 18 years old.

“Yes?” Jihoon says.

“A-Ah, well, um,” the boy squeaks. “I just wanted to say, um, I’ve always looked up to you and, uh, I hope one day we can be like you and your group!”

“Thanks,” Jihoon says kindly. Ah, to be that young and passionate again. “Work hard and you’ll get there. I’m cheering for you. Fighting!”

Usually this sends the kids scurrying off with pink-cheeked admiration, but this one stays put. “Um!” he squeaks again, the struggles with himself for a good twenty seconds before continuing, in a somewhat more hushed voice, “You and Hoshi-sunbaenim were– _are_ very brave. I– When I became a trainee, I never thought I could be– _open_ about my– myself. Seeing you, both of you, out and proud and still so successful…” The boy breaks into a tiny, brilliant, _elated_ smile. “You gave me hope.”

Jihoon knows his mouth is hanging open. He manages to stutter some form of thanks and pats the kid on the shoulder before the boy runs off with a grin. He sinks into an armchair, eyes still wide, trying to come to terms with what’s just happened.

Later, when Soonyoung’s returned from the bathroom, Jihoon tells him all about the rookie and how, apparently, Jihoon and Soonyoung have somehow become champions of gay rights.

“Well, yeah,” says Soonyoung, like this isn’t a shocking revelation. “Isn’t this why we agreed to start doing music shows again? To show everyone hey, we’re gay and we’re not afraid of you, get over it or get out? I’m not surprised the kid found it inspiring.”

For the second time in the same hour, Jihoon’s mouth falls open. “I only agreed because I thought it would help sales,” he admits, dumbfounded. “I certainly never thought about inspiring anyone or making any sort of social statement. Oh my god, are we gay role models?”

Soonyoung grins, sharp like the tiger he always claims to be. “We’re gay _icons_ , sweetie,” he croons, and pulls Jihoon close to press a kiss on his cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> surprisingly, i have little to say about this one. the idea here is sort of, like... jihoon is just living his life and then whatever he does has Unintended Consequences. it's something i've been sitting on for a while now, but never finished. does this count as #NoDramaSoonhoon??? i mean it's kind of drama bc of the scandal and stuff but everyone deals with the problem really calmly without any panic or anything...
> 
> anyway. i don't know what genre this is but thanks for reading anyway! any observations and analyses can be dropped in a comment below or to @mysterywoozi on twt if you like! (pointing out typos also welcome bc NO PROOFREADING WE DIE LIKE MEN)


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